From Myspace to becoming the lead singer of BOSTON

Everyone loves a Cinderella story... and mine is analogous to winning American Idol and the Lottery and being that guy in the movie Rock Star all rolled in to one!

It’s truly unbelievable because I never dreamed this BIG {idea} :-)

Last summer, I was a young father and rock singer, was working as an associate at the Home Depot in Charlotte, NC. This summer I’ll be touring the United States and Canada as one of the two new singers for the multi-platinum rock group, BOSTON.

How did that happen? I wrote a song honoring the late singer of BOSTON and wanted to share them with some fans. My daughter Talia showed me how to create a myspace.com page and I posted that song and a few others of me singing karaoke to some of BOSTON’s hit songs. A fan of BOSTON sent me an email address for someone who worked for the band and suggested that I try to reach out. I never expected anyone to reply.

What a shock it was when Tom Scholz, guitar genius called me on the phone. He said he’d listened and really liked my voice noticed it was remarkably close to that of the singer he’s worked with for more than 30 years, the late Brad Delp.

It seems Tom Scholz had come to the attention my songs and, to my delight, liked what he heard! In short order, Tom generously flew me and my whole family up to Massachusetts! After hardly any rehearsal and a swift sound check, I ended up on stage in front of nearly 4,000 music fans at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston for a big fundraiser concert called, “Come Together.” This show featured some of New England’s top local bands performing a few songs each and BOSTON with the amazing singer/guitar player Michael Sweet and me singing were at the top of the bill. I had to tell my wife to pinch me several times. I couldn’t believe I was standing on a stage with Tom Scholz, Gary Pihl, Kimberley Dahme and Jeff Neal. It was surreal! I somehow felt I should be sitting in the seats, rather than standing on the stage. It all went by so fast.

This summer, I will be going on tour with my all-time favorite band, the group that sold millions of albums and singles and broke box office and chart records. I’ve never performed in a band or gone on a tour. But here I am, ready to embark on a schedule of over 50 shows across the United States and Canada beginning June 6th through August, 2008.

For everything that’s happened, I still feel pretty calm. Life hasn’t changed much so far…..yet. My average number of 25-30 views on my myspace.com webpage has jumped to 3500-5000 or more daily. “The dayI had over 10,000 visitors...I was like...WOW!!!”

Clearly, this summer will be quite different. There will be roadies, sound and lighting people, trucks and busses and a crew of 60 or so including a vegetarian chef on the road. I hope to meet a lot of you that are reading this blog on the road this summer

And when September rolls around and the tour ends, I plan to be back on the floor offering credit applications to shoppers at Home Depot in Charlotte.